Business Analysis Live!

Ever made a decision that looked perfect on paper — and still went wrong?That's the question I opened with, and Dr. David Marco had an answer ready. David has spent decades building data and analytics programs for some of the most complicated environments out there — the FBI, Mayo Clinic, and over 150 companies and federal agencies — and lately his focus has shifted to the C-suite and boardroom, where the decisions that ripple down to the rest of us get made.In this episode, David introduces the concept of decision integrity: the ability to make evidence-based, consequential decisions that can be explained, traced, owned, trusted, and defended under scrutiny. We talk about what happens when that integrity is missing —and the real human consequences of decisions that go badly. David breaks down his four categories of decisions and his three pillars of decision integrity, and makes the case for why business analysis professionals are exactly the people who should be in the room when these decisions get made.This conversation started as a talk about decision integrity and turned into something closer to a career conversation — because for David, they're the same thing. If you've ever felt like you didn't have the authority to speak up on a decision you could see going sideways, this episode gives you permission to raise your hand and do it!Episode Highlights● What "decision integrity" means — and why boards are asking for it now● The AI hospital discharge case that shows what happens without decision guardrails● Why "human in the loop" isn't always enough ● David shares his four categories of decisions● The three pillars of decisions (and data) ● Why BAs are the connective tissue of an organization — and how to claim that role● The power of raising your hand: David's career-defining habit● A $100 million cautionary tale about a "simple" customer question
Resources
Connect with Susan on LinkedIn 
Connect with Dr. David Marco onLinkedIn     
Join our IIBA business analysis community

Business Analysis Live is hosted by Susan Moore, Community Engagement Manager with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). We talk with business analysis professionals about business analysis topics and answer questions from our live audience. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to hit that Like button, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us keep bringing you great content!The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is a non-profit professional association serving the field of business analysis. As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBA actively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice and certifications.

A gut feeling. A hunch. That feeling that something's off. As business analysts, we're trained to bring data to the table — but what about the things we know before the data catches up?Russell Mears — IIBA board member and 15-year BA veteran — joins Susan Moore on this episode of Business Analysis Live! to make the case that tapping into your instinct isn't abandoning rigor. Actually, it's a form of it. Drawing on philosophy, history, and hard-won experience in some of the most intense environments in finance, Russell reframes what it means to "do your homework" as a business analyst — and why dismissing your gut might be the most expensive mistake you make.This episode also gets into the real barriers to acting on your instincts — psychological safety, the pressure to quantify everything, and why a confident-looking output can silence the very people who know something's wrong.Episode Highlights• Trained instinct vs. raw hunch — what’s the difference? • Michael Polanyi's "we can know more than we can tell"• Gary Klein's research on expert pattern-matching under pressure• Why "garbage in, garbage out" assumes you can spot the garbage• The barriers to speaking up — psychological safety and the pressure to quantify• Instinct as a leading indicator • How instinct shows up in the business analysis practice• IIBA's Being Nimble research: sensing and responding to change

🔗 Resources
· Connect with Susan on LinkedIn
· Connect with Russell on LinkedIn
· Find out more about Being Nimble, IIBA’s research on the role of business analysis in organizational agility

Business Analysis Live is hosted by Susan Moore, Community Engagement Manager with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). We talk with business analysis professionals about business analysis topics and answer questions from our live audience. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to hit that Like button, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us keep bringing you great content!The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is a non-profit professional association serving the field of business analysis. As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBA actively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice and certifications.

#BusinessAnalysis #Instinct #CriticalThinking

Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.iiba.org/

This week on Business Analysis Live!, Susan Moore sits down with the team behind the Festival of Business Analysis (FOBA) — IIBA Australia's Abi Sachithanantham and Luigi Bini — to unpack this year's crowdsourced theme: Adapt, Align, and Accelerate. It's a two-week celebration (online first, then in person across five Australian cities plus Auckland and Wellington), and this year's program leans hard into more than just AI hype.
Susan also catches up with closing keynote speaker Shane Hastie (CBAP #140 and a core contributor to BABOK 3.0) on why career shape-shifting — not job titles — is the real story of this AI moment. Vaughan Luckman of Luckman Beyond BA makes the case that BAs are the "kings and queens of context" and they can't afford to sit back and wait for a seat at the table. And Sharon Robson and Will McNellis of Core State Consulting preview their workshop on political quotient — because office politics isn't something to avoid but something we need understand.
Whether you're headed to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, or Wellington — or joining online — this episode is a taste of what you’ll hear at FOBA this year.- Episode Highlights● How FOBA's 2026 theme for this year was crowdsourced from the community● Shane Hastie talks about his closing keynote - "the shape you didn't plan" and the broken-comb shaped skill set● Vaughan Luckman says ditch the 300-page document and claim a seat at the table● Sharon Robson & Will McNelis want you to embrace your “political quotient” and hack (rather than avoid) office politics● Learn where and how you can join FOBA this year!
- Resources
Connect with Susan on LinkedIn
 Follow the IIBA Australia Chapter on LinkedIn
Find the agendas and get your tickets: festivalofbusinessanalysis.org
Connect with Vaughan Luckman on LinkedIn
Connect with Sharon Robson on LinkedIn
Connect with Will McNellis on LinkedIn
Connect with Shane Hastie on LinkedIn

Business Analysis Live is hosted by Susan Moore, CommunityEngagement Manager with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). We talk with business analysis professionals about business analysis topics and answer questions from our live audience.
 
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to hit that Likebutton, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us keep bringing you great content!
 
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is anon-profit professional association serving the field of business analysis. As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBA actively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice andcertifications.

Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.iiba.org/

#FOBA2026  #BusinessAnalysis  #AdaptAlignAccelerate

This week Susan is joined again by Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta— change management strategist, founder of the Change Leadership Community, and author of the newly released Anatomy of a Change Leader — for a conversation we don't discuss enough of in this profession: layoffs.We talk about it from every angle we've each lived. Being let go. Staying behind while your team disappears around you. And the part that's uniquely uncomfortable for business analysts — sometimes our own analysis is the data that leads to the decision. Yvonne and I both got laid off early in our careers, and we get honest about how it shaped us, what organizations still get wrong about "survivor" support, and why mindset determines what you do with the time you're given.If you've been laid off, are watching it happen around you right now, or just know it's possible in this AI-disrupted moment — this one's for you.🎙️Episode Highlights● Yvonne's first layoff — and the mindset shift that came from it● Why organizations plan for the people they let go, but not the people who stay● Survivor's guilt and the anxiety loop of "am I next?"● The ethics of being the BA whose analysis feeds a layoff decision● Cognitive empathy vs. reassurance in change communication● Building "indispensable" skills before the layoff happens● Why breadth — not just technical BA skill — is what organizations want now● The Kübler-Ross change curve and getting to acceptance🔗 Resources• Connect with Susan on LinkedIn• Connect with Yvonne on LinkedInHave you been laid off? IIBA has resources and a community to help!

Business Analysis Live is hosted by Susan Moore, CommunityEngagement Manager with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). We talk with business analysis professionals about business analysistopics and answer questions from our live audience.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to hit that Likebutton, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us keep bringing you great content!
The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is anon-profit professional association serving the field of business analysis. As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBAactively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice and certifications.

#BusinessAnalysis#ChangeLeadership #CareerResilience

The future doesn’t belong to the BA who writes the best requirements. It belongs to the one who can design an environment where AI amplifies human judgment. Ready to think differently about your career?A note: this conversation was recorded in May 2025 — more than a year before this episode aired. A lot of what Susan Yu talked about has since caught up with the rest of the world. That’s what futurists do!In this episode, host Susan Moore sits down with IIBA president and CEO Delvin and Susan Yu, chair of the IIBA Sydney chapter, futurist, and author of the upcoming book on AI-augmented business analysis. The result is one of the most grounded, practitioner-level conversations on agentic AI you’ll hear—no hype, just real talk from people who are living through this shift.Susan Yu brings a perspective most of us haven’t heard before: she fell into generative AI through a book club full of movie directors, startup founders, and university professors—not enterprise folks. That outside-in lens shapes everything she shares in this episode. She’s direct about where organizations are versus where the tech industry thinks they are, and why this is important for business analysis professionals as they are trying to figure out where they fit.The conversation zeroes in on agentic AI—AI that can execute entire decision chains. The stakes are different here. When an agent can write, send, and optimize a process end-to-end, someone has to be thinking about the ethical architecture underneath it. That someone, as Delvin and both Susans make clear, should be us.🎙️Episode Highlights• Why agentic AI is both “yes” and “no” for 2026• The enterprise reality gap: where organizations really are• Decision architecture and why it’s the business analysis professional’s new frontier• Human-in-the-loop: art form or non-negotiable?• The UAE’s Regulatory Intelligence Office as a governance model• Skills business analysts need to stay relevant in the agentic era• Why documentation obsession will cost business analysts their jobs• Courage and speaking up as a core business analysis competency• An AI reframe: BA for AI, not AI for BA🔗 Resources
Connect with Susan Moore on LinkedIn
Connect with Susan Yu on LinkedIn
International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA): https://www.iiba.org
Business Analysis Live is hosted by Susan Moore, Community Engagement Manager with the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). We talk with business analysis professionals about business analysis topics and answer questions from our live audience. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to hit that Like button, subscribe to the channel, and share it with your friends. Your support helps us keep bringing you great content!The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is a non-profit professional association serving the field of business analysis. As the global thought leader and voice of the business analysis community, IIBA actively supports the recognition of the profession, and works to maintain global standards for the ongoing development of the practice and certifications.#BusinessAnalysis #AgenticAI #IIBA